Getting the girl – male bowerbirds master the art of illusion! New paper in the ‘Proceedings’ by John Endler, Julie Gaburro and Laura Kelly

It is often assumed that the primary purpose of a male’s sexual display is to provide information about quality, or to strongly stimulate prospective mates, but other functions of courtship displays have been relatively neglected.

Lead researcher Professor John Endler, from Deakin University, has previously found that male great bowerbirds build a bower that restricts the female’s view.

In this latest work, Endler and colleagues also find the males make rapid and colourful movements within this restricted field of vision and build bowers from materials that alter the female’s perception of colour.